Weapons of Life
by Vesvius
Summary: A blazing fire and a late night patrol bring Naruto to live with Kakashi and Rin at a young age. How will he grow up with strange parents, a few friends, and a weapon mistress in training? NaruTen Mild AU. On Hold indefinitly
1. Fire!

A/N: Well, it's time for my new story, Weapons of Life. I hope you all enjoy. Oh, and this chapter was originally going to be three times as long, so I already have chapter two ready! I just want to see how this is received.

* * *

Old man Ichiraku had seen a lot of things in his life. He had seen the beginning and the end of the war with The Village hidden in the clouds. He had been in Kirikagure when there was an attempted coup. But the memory that dominated his mind was the attack of the Kyuubi six years ago.

Ichiraku also remembered the aftermath of that attack. The ruins on the outskirts of town had to be rebuilt. The week-long food shortage which had needed aid from other countries to be abated. The looting of many stores had kept the shinobi busy for weeks. But most of all, the overwhelming hatred almost everyone in town held for a newborn boy.

In order to defeat Kyuubi, a sacrifice had been needed. Two actually: The life of one man, and the body of a newborn child. The Yondaime, their beloved leader, had quickly and willingly paid the first price, and a newborn boy had had the demon sealed inside of him.

Ichiraku shook his head in disgust as he remembered the reactions of most of his fellow villagers. They didn't seem to be able to tell the difference between a fifty foot tall, raving, destructive fox demon and a small, defenseless boy. But he could, and since the boy had become a frequent customer at his ramen stand, Ichiraku had done his best to be good to him.

Something was happening. Ichiraku squinted to see. There was a large group of people gathering around the apartment building across the street from Ichiraku Ramen. As the man watched, there was a plume of flame, signifying that a fire bottle had been lit. Ichiraku cursed. They were going to try to burn Naruto's house down, with him inside! He had to get a message to the Hokage!

Ichiraku turned to his daughter, Ayame. She had just turned ten, and was a fast runner. She was also the best choice he had for a message carrier. But she was also inquisitive and squeamish by nature. If he told her the problem, she would panic and start to break down. If he wrote it down, she would read the message and then panic. Verbal code was the only way. Ichiraku knelt down so he could look into his daughter's eyes. "Ayame," he said very seriously. "I have a very important job for you. Will you do it?" She nodded. "Good." Ichiraku said. "Run to the Hokage's tower as fast as you can and tell him that the fox is in the oven." Ayame nodded again, and then took off. The ramen shop owner sighed, took off his apron, and prepared to begin the futile task of reasoning with an angry mob.

Ayame was running as fast as a determined ten-year old could. She was completely and utterly focused on her goal. 'Daddy wouldn't have asked for it if it wasn't important.' She thought. Ayame was so focused on the ground in front of her that she wasn't looking around for watchers. Thus, she didn't see the figure watching her from the rooftops.

The figure frowned under his mask. That was the Ichiraku girl, and unless he was very much mistaken, she was heading for the Hokage Tower. That meant that something important was going on. Frowning again, he took off toward Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto's world was crumbling around him. He had been sleeping peacefully, and then his living room had erupted in fire. Naruto staggered out of bed, and began screaming. Everything he owned was on fire! Quickly, Naruto filled a pot of water, then through it on the flames. There was a small hissing, and the fire retreated. But the flames roared back a moment later, stronger then before.

'What did I do? Naruto thought as he threw more water on the fire. He tried to think of some reason that someone would want to incinerate him. He came up with nothing. 'I have to have done something!'

Seeing that the fire wasn't going to go out no matter how much water was thrown on it, Naruto turned to the door. He had to get out! But as he looked at the door, he realized it was impossible. Part of the roof had caved in, and the rubble was blocking the door! 'Just my luck!' he growled in his mind. The window! It was still unblocked. Naruto ran at the open window, planning on jumping out of it.

That plan lasted until he looked outside. Gathered outside of his building was a very large crowd of people. For a second, Naruto thought they were there to help him, but that thought was quickly dashed. All of them were chanting "Burn, Demon, Burn!" in unison.

Naruto slowly walked back inside, and stopped in the center. It was slowly sinking in. 'No one cares about what happens to me. I'm going to die here, and I never got to do anything!' As this knowledge penetrated his skull, he let out an anguished scream.

* * *

On the roof of the next building over, the masked watcher heard the scream. He had spent the last few minutes trying to devise a plan to get the kid out, but when he heard that scream, all logical thought left him. 'I've gotta get in their, NOW! Screw planning, tie for brute force!' he thought. Leaping into the air, the watcher landed on the roof that was already a little shaky. Jumping as high into the air as his chakra-enhanced legs could get him, he began going through the seals for his most powerful jutsu. As blue lightning coalesced on his right hand and forearm, he screamed "**Chidori! **(Thousand Birds)". In midair, he pointed his body towards the roof and hoped his chidori would last. He did have four floors to go through after all.

With the chirping of one thousand birds, and a large splintering sound, Hatake Kakashi plowed through the roof of the building, then the tenth floor, the ninth floor, the eight floor, and finally the seventh floor. 'Hope I'm not too late.' He thought.

In the middle of his scream, Naruto registered a strange sound. It sounded like a lot of birds chirping. He heard some cracking, and then the roof above him broke. Naruto had just enough time to realize there was a masked ninja above him with a lightning shrouded hand when he was grabbed and pulled along through the floor.

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled Naruto along. He had rescued the child from certain death. As they broke through yet another floor (that made nine), he let his chidori fizzle out and landed on the ground floor of the apartment complex.

'Where can I go now?' Kakashi thought. 'It's only a matter of time before this building burns to the ground, so we can't stay here. And if we go outside, we'll be attacked by a mob. I can't kill villagers, even if they are some of the most despicable beings I know.'

But the problem was quickly solved by the sound of many people landing outside, and an old cal voice that said "You can bring him out now." Kakashi picked up Naruto and carried him out, to see that the Hokage and a unit of ANBU had arrived. About five villagers were in chains, the rest had scattered, and one ANBU was kneeling next to Ichiraku, hands glowing green with a healing jutsu.

The Hokage walked over to Ichiraku, who was just sitting up and shaking his head. The Hokage inclined his head to the woozy villager. "I thank you for your timely message, Ichiraku-san. If it hadn't come, we wouldn't have been able to get here in time."

Ichiraku got up, shook his head again, then bowed deeply. "It was my pleasure, Hokage-sama."

"I think you should go back to your stand now." The Hokage said. "Your daughter will be there shortly." Ichiraku nodded, bowed to the Hokage, smiled at Naruto, and walked back to his stand across the street.

"Naruto, I think you should let go of Kakashi." The Hokage said, for Naruto had latched onto Kakashi's leg after being put down. Naruto mutely shook his head. Kakashi grinned under his mask.

"I don't mind, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi smiled. This was the first time Naruto had displayed any outward emotion but fear around an adult besides himself. Sarutobi's smile grew. A plan was slowly taking form in his devious old mind.

"Kakashi, kindly come to my office and bring Naruto-kun." He asked, and Kakashi nodded assent.

* * *

At the Hokage's office, Sarutobi began to explain his great idea. "Kakashi, Naruto needs a new place to live. His house just finished burning to the ground. Nothing short of the Nidaime could have put that blaze out. Naruto-kun seems to feel safe around you, and I know that you and Rin have been considering having children. Would you consider allowing Naruto to live with you for a period of time?"

Kakashi though for a moment. "How long a period of time?"

"At least until he finds a new house. But if the three of you like each other, he could stay for a long while."

"I'll have to talk with Rin first. But I think we will be able to. That is, if it's ok with Naruto."

Two sets of eyes looked towards Naruto, who had been entirely silent since they had entered the office. He looked back at both of them and thought about this idea. 'I like silver hair, my house is destroyed, and there's no where else for me to go. What's there to think about?' Naruto nodded his assent to the idea vigorously.

Kakashi reached over and ruffled Naruto's hair. With his trademark grin, he said, "Good! I'll go talk with Rin and I'll tell you our answer tomorrow- or rather, later today." With a poof of smoke, Kakashi left the room.

Naruto stared at the spot Kakashi had sat with an expression very close to awe. "Oji-san," he said. "Who and what exactly was he?"

Sarutobi smiled again. He did a lot of that whenever Naruto was around. "He is Hatake Kakashi, and he is one of the best ninja in our village."

Naruto's reaction was extremely loud and predictable, at least to anyone who knew the boy. "I'm gonna be a ninja, and be a better one then you, Oji-san, and even Kakashi!"

Sarutobi chuckled. "That would make you the strongest ninja in the village, and the Hokage."

"Then I'll be the strongest in the village! I'll be Hokage!"

* * *

In another part of the village, on the outskirts, the living room of a nice manor house to be precise, a blonde kunoichi was tapping her foot impatiently. A puff of smoke announced Kakashi's arrival. "Yo." He said.

A vein began pulsing in Rin's temple. "You are so late, I'm seriously considering surgically implanting an alarm clock in your forehead."

Kakashi nodded. "Sorry."

Rin's eyebrows climbed to the middle of her forehead. "No excuses? No ladders, black cats, old ladies, road of life, or anything else?"

"I just saved a six year old boy from a burning building."

"Is that the best you could come up with?"

"I'm serious."

Rin looked at him closely. "You know, I actually believe you. So, what happened?"

Kakashi quickly recounted the events of the night, starting with his patrol of the village, and ending with the ANBU and Hokage dispersing the mob.

As Kakashi told the story, Rin's eyes steadily grew wider and wider. When he finished, she explode. "What the hell do those villagers think they're doing! Trying to kill Sensei's son! If I had been there, I wouldn't have held back. I would have destroyed them!"

Rin was fuming mad. Kakashi took that as a good sign for them adopting the boy. "Rin, would you like to do something for the boy?"

"Like what?" she asked instantly.

"Like letting him stay here for a while. He has no place to go now that his house burnt down, and the Hokage would like him to stay with us temporarily."

Rin paused for a moment, then nodded. "Of course. I'll be more then happy to let him stay here for as long as he needs. We'll go pick him up in the morning."

Kakashi smiled. "I'm glad we came to this decision." Rin quirked an eyebrow. "Ok, I'm glad YOU came to this decision."

* * *

A/N: Well, tell me what you think! R&R! 


	2. Life at the Hatakes

A/N: Wow. Just... wow. I've never had that many reviews on a single chapter of anything before. And it's only gotten a fraction of the hits my other storys have! I hope I like up to the rather high standards that set me. Now, on with chapter two of Weapons of Life!

* * *

The morning after the fire, Naruto stretched as he woke up. He blinked for a minute, as he tried to remember where he was. Then he remembered that he was in the Hokage's office. The man had stayed with him there all night, working while Naruto slept. A frown engulfed his face as he remembered the fire, the villagers, the chant. But he started smiling as he remembered other things. The ninja who saved him, the Ramen that Ichiraku had made him after he got to the Hokage Tower, the nice old man that stayed up with him and taught him things he had never heard of before. If it hadn't been for the fire and the terror it brought, it would have undoubtedly been the best day of his life.

With a now-familiar puff of smoke, Kakashi appeared. Sarutobi looked up and sighed. "Is it too much trouble to use the door, Kakashi?" The Hokage sighed again as Kakashi nodded. "So, what's your answer?"

Kakashi smiled, his exposed eye shaped like a crescent moon. "Rin is out buying him stuff right now. And we'd like to adopt him, not just have him live with us."

Sarutobi gave a knowing smile. "I thought you might think that." He reached under his desk and pulled out adoption papers, which Kakashi signed without a second thought. Sarutobi looked over at Naruto, who was sitting in his seat in stunned surprise. "Do you hear that, Naruto-kun? You have a family now!"

Naruto blinked for a moment, still stunned. Then, in a blur of yellow and orange, Naruto latched onto Kakashi's neck. "TOU-SAN!" he yelled. Kakashi gave Naruto and unpracticed hug (he never really hugged anyone by Rin before), which Naruto returned with extreme intensity.

After a few minutes of extreme hugging, Naruto let go and dropped back to the floor. Rubbing the back of his head with his hand, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Tou-San."

Under his mask, Kakashi smiled again. "No problem at all, Naruto-kun." He said. "What do you say we go meet your kaa-san?" Naruto grinned wider, then nodded enthusiastically.

Kakashi grabbed Naruto and swung him onto his shoulders, so he was giving Naruto a piggyback ride. Then, instead of teleporting out like he usually did, he jumped out of the open window. Sarutobi listened to the whoops of adrenaline and joy from Naruto as the two bounded over rooftops. 'I think that was one of the best decisions I've made since I became Hokage.' He thought.

"Hey, Tou-san!" Naruto yelled at Kakashi.

Kakashi winced, because Naruto had just screamed into his ear. "What's up, Naruto-kun?" Naruto's next statement caught him completely by surprise.

"I want to be a ninja! A really good one!"

Once again, Kakashi grinned. "Good! We'll train you to be the best ninja ever!"

"Thanks, Tou-San!"

By this time, they had arrived back at Kakashi's house. Kakashi landed on the ground outside the front door, and put Naruto down. Inside, Rin heard the noise of the them landing and went to greet them.

As Rin walked outside, Kakashi nudged Naruto. "That's your Kaa-San, Naruto-kun. Go say hello to her." Naruto looked at Rin, who was staring back at him.

'He looks just like sensei.' She thought. But then her thoughts were blown off track by a sudden impact to her midsection. Rin looked down, and saw Naruto latched onto her, giving her the biggest hug she had ever gotten. Quickly, she kneeled down and returned it. "Hi, Kaa-san!" she exclaimed.

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto-kun." She said with a trembling voice.

* * *

The rest of the day was taken up with Naruto getting to know his new foster parents, and being shown around the house. He learned that Rin and Kakashi had been on the same gennin team when they were younger, and that Rin was an extremely good medical ninja. When he was shown his room, already stocked with all the things Rin bought for him, he began to cry before he grabbed both Kakashi and Rin in a tight group hug. They wrapped they day up with an exceptional dinner prepared by Rin.

"Well, Naruto-kun, tomorrow I think we'll start your training." Kakashi said after dinner.

Rin looked up from her meal in surprise. "Training? As in Ninja training? Kakashsi, don't you think it's a little early for that?"

Kakashi grinned under his mask. "We'll start slow, weights and the leaf exercise, and some weapons training, but we'll be far ahead when he gets to the academy. I'll handle the physical part, you take care of the mental part."

"Are you sure Naruto-kun wants to be a ninja?"

At this point, Naruto himself answered the question. "No. I don't want to be a ninja. I want to be the BEST NINJA EVER!"

Rin looked expressionless for a moment, then a wide grin spread over her face. 'He truly is sensei's son.' "Well, if you want to be the best, you're going to have to train hard and be stronger then both me and your Tou-San."

"I'll train hard! I'll be better then both Kaa-san and Tou-san, and even Oji-san!" Naruto exclaimed.

* * *

The next morning, Rin woke Naruto up from a very sound sleep. "Good Morning, Naruto-kun!" She pulled the blinds open, letting the sun shine in on him. Naruto, like most young boys, pulled the covers over his head.

"Five more minutes, Kaa-san." He said. Rin grabbed the blanket, and pulled it off.

"Nope! Get dressed, and meet me downstairs!" Naruto shook the slumber out of his eyes, then nodded and obediently got up and began groping for clothes. In five minutes, he was dressed in his new clothes and downstairs, eating. Surprisingly, his new clothes weren't orange. Or at least, not entirely orange. He was wearing a black and orange bodysuit, with pockets everywhere. He also had one comfortable boots and fingerless gloves. Down around his neck was a black and orange mask that would look just like Kakashi's once it was pulled up.

While he ate, Rin told him what he would be doing that day. "First, you will have an hour-long warm-up with Tou-san that will probably include a lot of running and stretching. Then, he'll teach you the basics of hand-to-hand combat, otherwise known as Taijutsu. He'll be training you in the standard style until you find one you wish to focus one. Then, another hour on missile weapons, like kunai and shuriken. Then I'll lecture you on history and assorted shinobi things like the ninja code, basics, and strategy. Then Kakashi will spend the rest of the day with you on chakra control, close combat weapons, and stealth. After that, you can do what you want as long as it's not too destructive. Sound good?" Naruto sat there for a moment.

"I didn't really understand all that, but I guess I'll pick it up. Sounds good, Kaa-san!"

When Naruto went outside, Kakashi was waiting. "Ok, the first thing to do is put these on." As he said that, he threw two wrist bands and two ankle bands at Naruto, who easily caught them and put them on.

"What are these, Tou-san?"

"Those, Naruto-kun, are sealed weight bands. Do you know what chakra is?" Naruto shook his head. "Kaa-san will teach you that later. Well, those bands have special seal on them that absorb a small quantity of your chakra, and use it to gain weight. They naturally way one pound each, but they will absorb another pound worth of chakra every week. So they may be light now, but they'll be heavy soon enough. Only, you'll have worked up to the weight so it will seem like nothing. Do you understand?" Naruto shook his head again. "Ok, basically, they'll make you super strong if you don't take them off unless you need to." Naruto let out a cheer at that.

"Good, I'm glad you like them. Now start running laps around the house! Run five!" Naruto took off, and was back in ten minutes breathing much more heavily then he had been before. "Good job. That was fast. Now, start with some stretches!"

After an hour of warm-up, which included running, stretching, push-ups, sit-ups, and minor meditation, they began work on Taijutsu. Naruto proved adept at that, needing only to be shown what to do in order to do it. He was so good at it that he had absorbed the fundamentals of academy taijutsu in the session, and was beginning to work on the more advanced maneuvers which people didn't usually get to until their third year at the academy.

Missile weapons were next. The first twenty minutes were full of Kakashi talking about kunai and shuriken. Instead of the usual history Naruto was expecting, Kakashi told him about how they were used. There were five types of kunai, each having its own specific purpose. Even more, there were seventeen types of shuriken, each different in how effective they were and how they were thrown.

After that, it was lunch time and time to give his body a much needed rest while his mind worked out. Rin lectured him about shinobi conduct and history, and then gave him basics, like what chakra was, what jutsus were, and what kinds of elemental jutsus there were. There were Katon, Doton, Suiton, Fuuton, Raiton, Hyouton, Mokuton, and many more that Naruto didn't remember.

Next was chakra control. Now that Naruto knew what chakra was, he was ready to start trying to control it. He couldn't do anything with it at first, but was soon able to master the ram seal to focus it. He was terrible at controlling, but he was progressing quickly for a young boy.

The next step, a logical one following chakra control, was hand seals. Kakashi demonstrated all twelve seals, and had Naruto try to make them. Naruto had already learned ram, and picked up horse, tiger, dragon and snake quickly. But he had trouble with all the rest. At the end of the session, he could do all the seals, though only ram and snake were perfect, and he couldn't make them in any order.

But then it came time for close combat weapons. Kakashi decided it would be more efficient to have Naruto become a master at one weapon then somewhat good at many. "So, Naruto, what kind of weapon do you want to learn?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "Swords. I've always wanted to learn swords, but everyone uses them. I want something more special, different. They always lead to really cool nicknames, like, say, the orange whip of Konoha, or the dark dagger of Konoha. Something like that."

Kakashi blinked for a moment, non-plussed. "We need to go shopping."

* * *

Ten minutes later, the two were in front of the Shinkotama weapon store. "Ok, Naruto-kun, don't touch anything without me being there." Kakashi said, and waited for Naruto's answering nod before entering.

Once they were inside the weapons store, an awestruck look settled on Naruto's face. He had never seen so many weapons in one place! There were swords, staffs, shuriken, kunai, whips, kama, sickles, and even more weapons that he didn't know the names of! He walked into the store, looking over the instruments of pain.

Kakashi chuckled as he looked at his adopted son's face. 'He sure loves weapons!' he thought. Kakashi was about to follow Naruto when a man he knew came up to him. "Tenroshi-san, good to see you!"

"Kakashi-san, it is a pleasure to have you in my store once again. What will you be looking for today?"

"I'm not really sure."

The proprietor of the store was surprised. "But you only ever come here for kunai and shuriken! Decided to change up your arsenal?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, today I'm shopping for someone else." While Kakashi was explaining the situation, Naruto was wandering through the store, looking at all the sharp and pointy objects.

'Whips? No, not my style at all. Daggers? Too sneaky, but I will need kunai. Swords? I'll probably get a katana, but I'll need something more unique. Scythes? Do I look like a shinigami?' Naruto was pondering his choices in weaponry. He kept, unconsciously, drifting back towards the swords, looking for something special.

As he looked through the shelves and racks of weapons, his breath caught. Naruto reached out and touched the most beautiful swords he had ever seen. They had handles of dark oak inlaid with gold. Their blades were steel so fine it looked almost like crystal.

A voice from behind him made him jump. "No touching, Naruto-kun." Kakashi and Tenroshi had caught up with him. "What are they, Tenroshi-san?"

In an almost reverent voice, Tenroshi said, "They are the Tsuin Yaiba." He picked up both of them, and began measuring Naruto's arms with them. They were supposed to be as long as his forearm, but they were too big. Considering he was only six and he would grow into them, that was a good thing. Naruto marveled at the two swords in Tenroshi's hand. "Well, Kakashi-san, leave it to your son to pick up the most expensive things in the place without trying."

Kakashi gaped under his mask, then said, "I don't think I've ever seen swords like those before."

"Nor will you again. These are exotic blades from the west, and we only got this one pair. They are perfectly balance, and chakra conductive. They even," he leaned over to whisper in Kakashi's ear. "They're even self-aware, and have their own conciousness!"

Kakashi looked at the two blades. "How much?"

"Well, Kakashi, there we hit an interesting idea I just had. Follow me please." Tenroshi walked into the back room, with Naruto and Kakashi following.

"Kakashi, frankly, you couldn't afford these blades without putting yourself into extreme debt. The price is the reason we haven't sold them yet. But I'm willing to give you the Tsuin Yaiba, and the scroll that has the three basic techniques for it, if you'll do me a favor."

Kakashi was wary. "First, are the techniques any good? Could you do them with any sword?"

Tenroshi answered quickly. "No, these techniques are specifically designed for the Tsuin Yaiba, and you'll never be able to use them with any other blade. The moves are Tou no Mai (Dance of the Sabers), Hagirenoyoi (Staccato), and Tora Tsume (Tiger Claws). They're the basics, and with them you can form your own techniques."

He was starting to be swayed. "What's the favor?"

"Well, my daughter Ten-Ten is supposed to start at the academy this year. Pretty much everyone there is getting basic lessons already, but I frankly don't have time with running the store. I think she would benefit more from training with you and your son instead of going to the academy. You would train her as you trained Naruto, and she would enter the academy with him next year."

Kakashi thought for a moment. He was going to be training Naruto anyway, so training Ten-Ten along with him would be no added problem. And it would be good for Naruto to make a friend with someone his own age. Rin wouldn't mind either: she had always like training children. She would have made a great Jounin instructor if she hadn't taken up the post at the hospital. "Deal."

* * *

A/N: Well, that was chapter two! I hope it was ok! Oh, and a cookie if you can guess what Anime/Game I blatently stole the Tsuin Yaiba from!


End file.
